Album Review: Kelela – Cut 4 Me

Singers teaming up with forward-thinking Dance producers to make pure Pop has become a trend in recent years – think Jessie Ware and Julio Bashmore. It seems US singer Kelela had the same idea when deciding to become a singer by teaming up with the skewed and grimy sounds of Bok Bok and Girl Unit.

Kelela’s debut free mixtape ‘Cut 4 Me’ sees her channel the diva spirit of classic era Mariah and Janet, but with a distinctive nasal coo that’s very much her own.

‘Cut 4 Me’ has to be one of the most cutting-edge releases of 2013 and If the chemistry between Kelela and the music hadn’t been genuine, the results of the mixtape could have lacked human touch.

”Enemy’ has a floaty Sci-Fi production that has poise and precision, while ‘Bank Head’ is a tense, restricted piece of R&B that is reminiscent of 90s Aaliyah and Brandy, both of whom Kelela has admitted heavily influenced her throughout this mixtape. It is an ambitiously catchy record as well as being aesthetically pleasing.

Her supremely confident and skilled vocal style compliments the style of music she’s chosen as her own, which hints massively at Kelela having the whole package. The result is an album full of top shelf love songs that sound like they’ve come from the very near future.